Friday, 8 August 2014

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces on Friday afternoon during clashes at Jabal al-Tawil east of el-Bireh near Ramallah, following a protest close to the nearby Jewish settlement of Psagot.

Medical sources told Ma’an that Ahmad Mohammad al-Qatari of al-Amari refugee camp was shot in the chest, before being taken to the Palestine Medical Complex where he was pronounced dead.

Masked gunmen had opened fire at Psagot settlement earlier, without any injuries being reported.

An Israeli military spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
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CAIRO (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces launched an airstrike on al-Qarara in the Gaza Strip that killed three Palestinians on Friday afternoon in the middle of an "unofficial" ceasefire that was due to last until 8 p.m.

The deaths brought the total Palestinian death toll in the month-long assault to 1,898 with more than 9,825 injured.

Sources close to talks in Egypt had told Ma'an earlier Friday that an unofficial cessation to hostilities would be implemented until 8 p.m. as mediators attempt to reach an agreement between Palestinian and Israeli delegations.

Well placed sources in Cairo said that Palestinian and Israeli delegations had "agreed to almost all main points that need a solution" through indirect talks. more

From Democracy Now - We speak with longtime peace activist Uri Avnery, who has pushed for Israel to engage with Hamas. Avnery is a historic figure within the Israeli peace movement. He was born in Germany in 1923. His family fled the Nazis and moved to what was then Palestine. As a youth he joined the Irgun Zionist paramilitary group which he later quit to become a leading peace activist in Israel. In 1950, he founded the news magazine, HaOlam HaZeh. Fifteen years later, he was elected to the Knesset on a peace platform. In 1982, he made headlines when he crossed the lines during the Siege of Beirut to meet Yassir Arafat, head of the then-banned Palestine Liberation Organization. In 1993, he started the Gush Shalom peace movement. He will turn 91 next month and still writes a weekly column. click to watch the video

The following is a list of Palestinian demands presented to Israel by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, during indirect talks held in Egypt between Israeli and Palestinians teams, as published by al-Watan News:

1. Israel totally rejects establishing either a Seaport or an Airport in the Gaza Strip.
2. Totally rejects the release of all detainees who were released under the Shalit Prisoner Swap Deal, and rearrested by Israel.
3. Israel “reserves the right” to act against the tunnels in Gaza.
4. Israel “reserves the right” to conduct targeted killings.
5. Agrees to consider the Rafah Border Terminal as an Egyptian-Palestinian issue.
6. Agrees to release the fourth phase of veteran detainees “as a goodwill gesture toward president Mahmoud Abbas.”
7. Agrees to extend the Palestinian fishing zone in Gaza territorial waters.
8. Agrees to allow the transfer of money for paying salaries in the Gaza Strip.
9. Agrees to ease restrictions on Palestinians crossing the Erez terminal, will not relax restrictions on goods.
10. Agrees to the entry of construction equipment, but only under international supervision. more

Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said Ibrahim Zuheir al-Dawawseh, 10, was killed and five others injured in an Israeli strike on a mosque in the Sheikh al-Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.

When Ahmed Owedat returned to his home 18 days after Israeli soldiers took it over in the middle of the night, he was greeted with an overpowering stench.

He picked through the wreckage of his possessions thrown from upstairs windows to find that the departing troops had left a number of messages. One came from piles of faeces on his tiled floors and in wastepaper baskets, and a plastic bottle filled with urine.

If that was not clear enough, the words "Fuck Hamas" had been carved into a concrete wall in the staircase. "Burn Gaza down" and "Good Arab = dead Arab" were engraved on a coffee table. The star of David was drawn in blue in a bedroom.

"I have scrubbed the floors three times today and three times yesterday," said Owedat, 52, as he surveyed the damage, which included four televisions, a fridge, a clock and several computers tossed out of windows, shredded curtains and slashed soft furnishings.

A handful of plastic chairs had their seats ripped open, through which the occupying soldiers defecated, he said. Gaping holes had been blown in four ground-floor external walls, and there was damage from shelling to the top floor. There, in the living room, diagrams had been drawn on the walls, showing buildings and palm trees in the village, with figures that Owedat thought represented their distance from the border.

"I have no money to fix this," he said, claiming that his life savings of $10,000 (£6,000) were missing from his apartment. But at least it could be repaired, he acknowledged, gesturing through the broken glass at a wasteland stretching towards the Israel-Gaza border 3km away. "Every house between here and there has been destroyed."

His family of 13 fled their home after seeing troops and tanks advancing at 1am on 20 July, two days into the Israeli ground invasion. Several times, during the short-lived ceasefires in the following two weeks, they attempted to return only to find Israeli troops in their home instructing them to keep away.

The Israel Defence Forces did not respond to a request for comment. more

GAZA CITY (AFP) -- All Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip have refused to extend a three-day truce with Israel, Hamas said Friday, as the ceasefire ended.

"All the Palestinian factions, including Hamas, have agreed not to renew the ceasefire because (Israel) is refusing to accommodate our demands, but negotiations continue in Cairo," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP.

Thousands of Palestinians were fleeing their homes east of Gaza City on Friday in fear of Israeli attacks.

Militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israel minutes after the 72-hour truce between Hamas and Israel ended, the army said. more